Health Information Exchange Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Health Information Exchange - Essay Example ea in several ways including but not limited to improved quality of patient care, reduced costs and faster communication between patients and medical professionals. Though many professional bodies and individuals support the installation of a HIE scheme, there exists several challenges to this which are still being addressed. Of these issues, privacy, confidentiality, possible unauthorized access and misuse of medical records are of primary concern. This essay will examine HIE in relation to defining it as a process and what it aims to achieve in the medical community. It will then look at its development within recent years as technical advancements have made it a possible method of faster information transmission. Challenges that remain within the area of HIE will then be briefly examined with a view to summarizing them to their main areas of concern. Potential solutions to these problems will then be described and a final concluding discussion will then follow. Health Information Exchange (HIE), is a term used to describe the process of information sharing in relation to the health of individuals, among Health Information Organizations (HIOs) across the world. The sharing of this information is aimed at maintaining individual confidentiality, privacy and security, while providing a faster and more effective way of sharing health-related information for the benefit of both patients and HIOs (AHIMA). HIE is a fundamental part of the health information technology (HIT) network which is currently being reviewed in the United States and the National Health Information Network (Health Information Exchange). It is still not fully developed but is expected to be implemented at some stage in the near future. It is the responsibility of Health Information Organizations to ensure the successful operation of HIE. In order for this to function, they must â€Å"create a standardized interoperable model that is patient centric, trusted, longitudinal, scalable, sustainable, and